Karmanos to step down from Compuware board in 2013

Karmanos plans to step down next year as executive chairman of Detroit-based Compuware

DETROIT (AP) -- Peter Karmanos Jr. plans to step down next year as executive chairman of Compuware Corp., the Detroit-based software development business he co-founded nearly four decades ago.

The company detailed the plans in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 69-year-old is expected to become a consultant for Compuware, earning $600,000 a year. The move to leave the company's board is effective March 31. Karmanos stepped down as Compuware's chief executive in 2011.

He will be succeeded as nonexecutive chairman by Gurminder Bedi, the company's lead independent director.

Karmanos moved Compuware's headquarters from suburban Farmington Hills to a new building in downtown Detroit in 2002. He had said earlier that he was aiming to retire by 2013, when he turns 70 and the company turns 40.